Sketching Obsession: Flinders Street Station

Anyone that regularly follows me knows that I have a few sketching obsessions. Teacups being the main one, but I am also partial to sketching complex buildings in general and Baroque buildings in particular. But my obsessions also extend to sketching one building over and over again. The Sydney Opera House (SOH) is one such building, but so is Flinders Street Station (FSS) in Melbourne.

For me FSS is the SOH of Melbourne.

Normally when I go to Melbourne I manage to sketch FSS numerous times, and typically manage one on the first day! But my recent trip to Melbourne was unusual: I walked past FSS on the first afternoon but didn’t sketch it and then it wasn’t until was Day 6 before I got a chance! I will try to share all my Melbourne sketches soon, but this first post is devoted to FSS.
This recent trip to Melbourne was fairly full-on with very little sketching ‘just for me’ however on the last day I have a little time to hang out with my great sketching buddies Angela Williams and Alissa Duke. As a warmup for our day we did a 5 minute challenge. Isn’t this a great collection of three different approaches?

This has to be the most lopsided sketch I have done of FSS – look at that archway – but it is really amazing what you can achieve in a short time frame! Oh! it was fun and there are some lovely merged washes where the yellow and grey meet.

If you are interested in seeing some more Flinders St Station sketches check them out here. BTW I am planning to add a few references to old stuff as often as I can – it’s a way of chipping away at the enormous task of tidying up my tags… and yes, it is also a chance to show off my new tag system – which I love a lot!

So… do you get bored sketching the same subject (ie. the exact same thing from the same spot) over and over again. Or are you like me and interested in comparing how each version is different?

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5 Comments

Lovely to have such a visual tagging system now – it’s so good to see a gallery of your work when you click on a tag. I know you’re still refining your site but just in case you didn’t know, on an iPhone or iPad, tapping your logo does not take you home, neither is there a home option in the menu, making it a bit tricky to navigate. Love the new site though, it really shows off your sketches well.

Hello Liz! I love your new Blog and very happy to find it still in my morning inbox…perfect with that 1st cuppa.
Sketch obsession: yours are very instructive for me as well as those of my artist friends. Being a little inpatient, mostly with myself & battling that internal critic (IC), I have abandoned a scene or exercise too early.
I am learning that being more persistent with an exercise or painting can help something more wonderful to develop. Also, repeating the same object/place repetitively can definitely develop skills applicable to new object/places.
Just read your FlinderSt Blog. Your obsessions are an inspiration.
So glad you decided to extend your “3 years!”
Marcia

thanks marcia. There are lots of benefits with doing the same subject over and over. However your IC is always there (it will tell you “you should do a better job of this as you have sketched it before”) so I like making friends with mine…. I worte a blog post about that…need to check out its tag and put it in a category!

Oh no, I don’t get tired. My obsession list is short – coffee mugs from my collection and wherever else I see them, beach scenes (just the basics – sky, sea, sand and palm tree), baskets and houses in my neighbourhood. My teacup sketching is not as obsessive as yours, but I like sketching them too. Your sketches inspire me every time you post a photo of a teacup sketch.